Argument in Favor and Against Pro Bono Reporting
| ABA Model Rule 6.1 | Table of State Ethics Rules | Standards for Pro Bono Programs | Emeritus Attorney Rules | Pro Bono Reporting | CLE Credit for Doing Pro Bono |
| State-by-State | Guide for Bar Leaders and Others | Arguments in Favor and Against |
In Favor of Mandatory Pro Bono Reporting
- Simple mechanism for attempting to increase delivery of legal services to poor (e.g. actual increase in Florida) and level of service to community
- Effective mechanism for collecting reliable, accurate, consistent data to evaluate delivery of pro bono legal services to the poor
- Provides data essential for design of successful programs
- Can increase monetary contributions
- Creates positive peer pressure
- Promotes increased access to justice/courts
- Allows judiciary opportunity to safeguard constitution and individuals= rights to challenge government conduct
- Promotes involvement in pro bono
- Promises high rates of reporting
- Data can send message to non-legal community about their responsibility to fund legal services for poor
- Enables recognition of contributing lawyers
- Can be inexpensive
- Facilitates engendering confidence in the bar
- Can make demographics collectible
- Data can be used to enhance image of lawyers
- Encourages fulfillment of professional responsibility
- Can raise consciousness about professional responsibility
- Can raise awareness of need for free or reduced fee legal services
- Can raise awareness of opportunities for pro bono involvement
- Can obviate mandatory pro bono service controversy
In Favor of Voluntary Pro Bono Reporting
- Not a burden on attorneys because optional
- No threat to constitutional rights
- No need to focus energies on discipline
- Easy to implement
- Can collect data
- Data can send message to non-legal community about their responsibility to fund legal services for poor
- Enables recognition of contributing lawyers
- Can be inexpensive
- Facilitates engendering confidence in the bar
- Can make demographics collectible
- Data can be used to enhance image of lawyers
- Can raise consciousness about professional responsibility
- Can raise awareness of need for free or reduced fee legal services
- Can raise awareness of opportunities for pro bono involvement
- Can increase monetary contributions
Against Mandatory Pro Bono Reporting
- Violates constitutional right to privacy because publicizes private acts of charity and divulges names of recipients
- Violates of right to be free from involuntary servitude
- A step toward mandatory pro bono
- Invites political opposition
- Difficult to find support
- Unnecessary
- Counterproductive to goal of increasing delivery of direct legal services to the poor
- Administrative costs involved in collecting and processing information, as well as in taking disciplinary action or imposing sanctions
- Negative peer pressure
- Onerous responsibility for attorneys
- Public and press can use information to criticize the bar
- For legislature, not judiciary to decide (not judiciary =s role to encourage charitable activities)
- Does not serve public interest
- Difficult to determine what type of discipline is appropriate
- Unnecessary
- True motive: to persuade or shame lawyers into doing pro bono work
- Judicial aspirants could be affected by information provided in past years
- Burdens state with need to devise collection methods and penalties for noncompliance with the rule
Financial burden on state
Pro bono can become a negative rather than positive concept if bar members express opposition
Against Voluntary Pro Bono Reporting
- Promotes low response rate
- Collects insufficient data to draw statistically valid conclusions
- If separate forms, may get lost or discarded
- Trying to track activity may be burdensome due to low response rate
- Some activities not recognized or promoted (e.g. legal services rendered in rural communities or non-legal community service activities)
- If form not on dues statement, complete analysis of collected data impossible because inclusion of personal information optional
- Ineffective
- May not encourage or promote fulfillment of professional responsibility to provide access to justice
- May not raise consciousness about pro bono or professional responsibility
